2018-07-03
Sen. David Leyonhjelm's vile, sexist slurs about Australian Greens Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young have no place in a decent society and I call on both Prime Minister Turnbull and Bill Shorten to immediately condemn him for them, Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale said.
"We’ll be moving for David Leyonhjelm to be censured in the Senate for these appalling comments, which have proven that he lacks the basic decency we expect from our elected representatives. It is time for him to do the right thing and resign before he brings further damage onto the institution of Parliament," Di Natale said.
I call on the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to join me in publicly condemning Sen. Leyonhjelm now, and joining with the Greens in censuring him when Parliament returns.
Women are equal, women's voices are valued. We need more female voices in public life, and disgraceful comments like this do us all a disservice.
"It is a sad truth that women in this country and across the world have to live every day with disrespectful, threatening and offensive behaviour. We have a responsibility to ensure more diversity in our Parliament, not less, and that starts with calling out Sen. Leyonhjelm’s behaviour for what it is: sexist and deeply inappropriate.
Sen. Leyonhjelm has failed to withdraw his comments and has failed to apologise - in fact, his attacks have become more personal and more offensive. Our political leaders must make clear that his misogyny is unacceptable and media outlets like SKY News must stop egging him on in a desperate quest for ratings.
"SKY's apology rings hollow when the man who made the offensive comments goes unpunished, the male producers who booked him go unpunished, the male executives who set the tone and pay their salaries go unpunished and the only one held accountable is a junior producer who also happens to be a female member of staff.”